Tuesday, February 13, 2007

First 100 days as a Mom - 1st 12 hours

Ok, this is a very lofty goal on my part. One of my friends suggested I do this when I first told her about Pregnantly Plump.

Already I'm behind, but we had legitimate wireless issues and I was exhausted and in pain. I know, I know, excuses, excuses.

I would like to attempt this, though. So bear with me. I may end up handwriting things and putting up three or four posts a day on some days.

The disclaimer is over now.

My first twelve hours as a momDelivery was rough. It was a scary ordeal that had a very happy ending. After Little Elvis was born and Bob got to show him to me, they took him to the nursery. I told Bob to follow, because watching our brand new baby would have to be a lot more fun than watching an exhausted mom who couldn't even cough (numbed from the shoulders down.)

The anesthesiologist had to help me convince Bob to join the baby. She had already chided him for forgetting our camera. (I didn't really want a camera in the delivery room anyway.)

He acquiesed and ran to get our new digital camcorder and hang out in the nursery with Little Elvis.

By this point I was nauseous and my neck was killing me. The nurse told me nausea was completely normal and had a little throw up bowl by my head. But since I was numbed from the shoulders down and I physically couldn't wretch anything up. I think I put the crick in my neck when I was craning to see our beautiful baby boy.

I'm not sure how long I was in the OR, but I listened to the doctors count surgical instruments several times (that was kind of disturbing.)

After they got me back to the room, I'm pretty sure I passed out from exhaustion. I was in and out of consciousness, but I did wake up to watch Bob's video of our baby in the nursery. He was so well-behaved! You could hear all the other babies crying and fussing, but he was just looking around quietly.

After this, Bob decided to take a nap as well. My mom was still in the dark about everything at our house. I am thankful for this. I can't imagine how scared she would have been if she'd been stuck in a waiting room by herself. Or if she'd been stuck at our house by herself waiting for Bob to call when I was out of surgery.

We opted to let her sleep until 8 and then Bob would go pick her up and bring her to meet Little Elvis.

The nurse continuously checked my vitals and my feeling slowly came back between each nap. I was woken up around 8 and Bob wasn't there. I assumed he had gone home to get my mom. The nurses had changed shifts and the new nurse told me I was now ready to change rooms. She wheeled my bed down the hall and to my new room.

Somehow I had the presence of mind to call Bob and tell him the new room number. Bob and my mom arrived shortly after I did and she seemed very excited about meeting her new grandbaby.

I still couldn't move (and wasn't supposed to for the rest of the day anyway). But we figured they'd bring the little guy into us.

Not exactly. His temperature wasn't high enough to leave the nursery. He was at 97.7 degrees and they didn't want him to leave the heater until he was 98. Bob could go into the nursery and hold him, but my mom couldn't and neither could I.

We ended up waiting for him to warm up until noon. The more coherant and alert and less paralyzed I became, the more I wanted our baby. It was such a relief when he was finally wheeled into our room all sweet and wriggly and warm.

About Me

Hi! I'm currently a stay-at-home mom to Little Elvis*(5 years old) and Baby Plum* (2.5 years old) and Cheese Puff* (newborn). They keep me very busy. Thanks for visiting!
*names have been changed to protect the innocent